Chapter 1

LUCINDA'S SECRET

露辛达的秘密

Chapter One IN WHICH Many Things Are Turned Inside Out Jared Grace took out a red shirt, turned it inside out, and put it on backward. He tried to do the same with his jeans, but that was beyond him. Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You lay atop his pillow, open to a page on protective devices. Jared had consulted the book carefully, not sure any of it would help much. Since the morning after the Grace kids had returned with the griffin, Thimbletack had been out to get Jared. Every so often he could hear the

杰瑞德·格雷斯拿出一件红衬衫，把它翻了个底朝天，然后反着穿了起来。 他试着在牛仔裤上做同样的事情，但这超出了他的能力。 亚瑟·斯派德威克的《你周围的奇幻世界野外指南》放在他的枕头上，打开到保护装置上的一页。 贾里德仔细地查阅了这本书，不确定其中的任何内容会有多大帮助。 从格蕾丝家的孩子们带着狮鹫回来的那天早上起，西姆布兰蒂克就一直在找贾里德。 每隔一段时间他都能听到

little brownie in the wall. At other times Jared thought he saw him out of the corner of his eye. Mostly, though, Jared just wound up the victim of some new prank. So far his eyelashes had been cut, his shoes had been filled with mud, and something had urinated on his pillow. Mom blamed Simon's new kitten for the last, but Jared knew better. Mallory was completely unsympathetic. "Now you know how it feels," she kept saying. Only Simon seemed at all concerned. And he practically had to be. If Jared hadn't forced Thimbletack to give up the seeing stone, Simon might have been roasted over a spit in a goblin camp. Jared tied the laces of his muddy shoe over an inside-out sock. He wished that he could find a way to apologize to Thimbletack. He'd tried to give back the stone, but the brownie hadn't wanted it. The thing was, he knew that if everything were to happen all over again, he would do exactly what he had done. Just thinking about Simon being held by goblins—while Thimbletack stood around

墙上的小布朗尼。 在其他时候，贾里德认为他看到了他的眼角余光。 不过，大多数情况下，贾里德都是新恶作剧的受害者。 到目前为止，他的睫毛被剪断了，鞋子里满是泥，还有什么东西尿在他的枕头上。 妈妈把最后一个怪在西蒙的新小猫身上，但杰瑞德很清楚。 马洛里完全没有同情心。 “现在你知道那是什么感觉了，”她不停地说。 只有西蒙似乎有点担心。 事实上，他不得不这样做。 如果杰瑞德没有强迫西姆布兰蒂克交出那块透视石，西蒙可能已经在地精的营地里被烤熟了。 贾里德把沾满泥巴的鞋带系在一只反穿的袜子上。 他希望能找到一个方法向西姆布兰蒂克道歉。 他想把石头还给他，但布朗尼不想要。 问题是，他知道，如果一切都能重新来过，他会一如既往地去做。 我在想西蒙被半兽人抓住了——而西姆布兰蒂克站在旁边

talking in riddles—made Jared angry enough to almost break his laces with the force of the knot. "Jared," Mallory called from downstairs. "Jared, come here a minute." He stood up, tucking the Guide under his arm, and took a step toward the stairs. He fell immediately, hitting his hand and knee against the hardwood floor. Somehow Jared's shoelaces had been tied together. Downstairs Mallory was standing in the kitchen, holding a glass up to the window so that the water caught the sunlight and cast a rainbow on the wall. Simon sat next to her. Both of Jared's siblings seemed transfixed.

说着谜语——这让贾里德气得差点被绳结的力量弄断鞋带。 “杰瑞德，”马洛里在楼下喊道。 “杰瑞德，过来一下。” 他站起来，把《指南》夹在腋下，朝楼梯走了一步。 他立刻摔倒了，手和膝盖撞在硬木地板上。 贾里德的鞋带不知怎么被系在一起了。 马洛里站在楼下的厨房里，拿着一个玻璃杯对着窗户，这样水就能吸收阳光，在墙上投射出一道彩虹。 西蒙坐在她旁边。贾里德的两个兄弟姐妹似乎都惊呆了。

The water caught the sunlight.

水吸收了阳光。

"What?" Jared said. He was feeling grumpy and his knee hurt. If all they wanted was to show him how pretty the stupid glass looked, he was going to break something. "Take a sip," Mallory said, handing the glass to him. Jared eyed it suspiciously. Did they spit in it? Why would Mallory want him to drink water? "Go ahead, Jared," Simon said. "We already tried it." The microwave beeped and Simon jumped up to remove a giant mound of chopped meat. The top part was a sickly gray, but the rest of it still looked frozen. "What's that?" Jared asked, peering at the meat. "For Byron," Simon said, dumping it into a huge bowl and adding corn flakes. "He must be getting better. He's always hungry." Jared grinned. Anyone else would be wary of a half-starved griffin recuperating in their carriage house. Not Simon.

“什么?”杰瑞德说。他心情不好，膝盖也疼。 如果他们只是想让他看看那只愚蠢的玻璃有多漂亮，他肯定会打碎什么东西的。 “喝一口。”马洛里说着，把杯子递给了他。 贾里德怀疑地看着它。 他们在里面吐口水了吗？为什么马洛里要他喝水？ “说吧，贾里德，”西蒙说。 “我们已经试过了。”微波炉发出哔哔声，西蒙跳起来移走一大堆碎肉。 上面的部分是病态的灰色，但其余部分看起来仍然冻结。 “那是什么?”杰瑞德盯着那块肉问。 “给拜伦的，”西蒙说着，把它倒进一个大碗里，加上玉米片。 “他一定在好转。 他总是很饿。”Jared咧嘴一笑。 换了别人，肯定会小心一只半饿的狮鹫在他们的马车房里休养。 西蒙。